Antonin Scalia

The nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to serve as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court is the secondtop court nomination since Robert Menendez (D-Hoboken) joined the United States Senate in early 2006. He voted against the nomination of Samuel Alito in 2006.  The Sotomayor nomination will be eleventh Supreme Court nomination during the 25 years Frank Lautenberg (D-Cliffside Park) has served in the Senate.

Lautenberg has voted yes on four Supreme Court nominations -- Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Anthony Kennedy, and Antonin Scalia -- and no on six: Alito, John Roberts, Clarence Thomas, Robert Bork, William Rehnquist, and David Souter.  Lautenberg was among nine Senators to vote against Souter in 1990.  Souter's retirement created the opening for President Obama to nominate Sotomayor, who will become the first Hispanic and third woman to serve on the nation's top court.

Frank Lautenberg probably didn't expect David Souter to vote with the liberal wing of the U.S. Supreme Court when he was appointed Associate Justice by George H.W. Bush in 1990.   New Jersey's two U.S. Senators at the time, Lautenberg and Bill Bradley, were among the nine Senators who voted against the Souter nomination.

During his 25 years in the Senate, Lautenberg has participated in ten Supreme Court nominations; he has voted yes on four (Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Anthony Kennedy, and Antonin Scalia), and has voted no on six (Samuel Alito, John Roberts, Clarence Thomas, Robert Bork, William Rehnquist, and Souter).

Jon Corzine voted on one Supreme Court nomination during his five years in the Senate, casting a no vote on Roberts for Chief Justice.  Bradley voted on nine top court nominations while in the Senate from 1979 to 1997, supporting Breyer, Ginsberg, Kennedy, Scalia and Sandra Day O'Connor, and opposing Thomas, Souter, Bork and Rehnquist. 

After yesterday's 5-4 ruling by the Supreme Court, are we only one justice away from a court sanctioned dictatorship?